Means for preparing matrices for positioning for trimming and/or casting



Jan. 3,1961 c. c. BAKER ETAL 2,966,847 MEANS FOR PREPARING MATRICES FOR POSITIONING FOR TRIMMING AND/OR CASTING Filed Nov. 16, 1959 1 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 v INVENTORS CRAIG c. BAKER VERNON R. SFITALERI BY SAMUEL ODERMAN ATTORNEY Jan. 3, 1961 c. c. BAKER ETI'AL 2,966,847

MEANS FOR PREPARING MATRICES FOR posmonmc FOR TRIMMING AND/OR CASTING 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed NOV- 16, 1959 VERNON BY SAMUEL ATTORNEY MEANS FOR PREPARING MATRICES FOR POSI- TKGNING FOR ENG AND/OR CASTING Filed Nov. 16, 1959, Ser. No. 853,410

8 Claims. (Cl. 101-391) This present invention is concerned with the problem of accurately and quickly positioning matrices for the casting of stereotype plates, particularly plates for cylindrical presses, and also with the related problem of first accurately trimming the edges of the matrices when the casting of the stereotype plates from the matrices is to take place in automatic casting boxes as distinguished from hand casting boxes.

Us. Letters Patent No. 2,861,334, issued under date of November 25, 1958, and entitled, Method and Means for Accurately Positioning Matrices for Trimming or Casting, to which reference should be made, describes the manner in which accurate positioning of a matrix can be obtained by cutting a straight slit in each side of the matrix and providing segmented depressions in the matrixsupporting plate of the trimmer or hand casting box, with each such depression having a straight wall to be engaged by an edge of a corresponding slit in the matrix. This patent describes the special matrix slitter in which each matrix must first be accurately positioned for the necessary slitting of the edges. The accurate positioning of the matrix in the slitter is accomplished through the medium of pinholes previously made in the matrix which pinholes are then engaged by positioning pins in the slitter. While the method, described in this patent, of positioning matrices for trimming or casting by having border slits in the matrices engage the straight walls of depressions in the supporting plates for the matrices, has proved to be very satisfactory and reliable in securing the highest accuracy in the final positioning of the matrices on their supporting plates, the carrying out of this method heretofore has required the additional separate preliminary step of first accurately positioning each matrix in the special slitter as described in the patent.

An object of the present invention accordingly is to enable the method described in the above mentioned patent to be carried out more expeditiously by dispensing with the step which requires the matrix to be first accurately positioned in a special slitter.

A related object of the invention is to provide improved means to be employed in the carrying out of the method above mentioned which will enable the slitting of the sides of the matrix to be done simultaneously with the initial making or molding of the matrix.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved chase for molding a matrix which will be equipped with border-slitting means so as to enable the desired border slits to be placed in the matrix as the matrix is being initially molded.

An additional specific object is to provide border slitting means in a matrix-molding chase which will operate automatically to slit the border portions of the matrix when the matrix is being molded.

Another object of the invention is to provide a chase for molding matrices which, in addition to being equipped 2,966,847 Patented Jan. 3, 1961 with matrix border-slitting means, will also have positioning means for the mat from which the matrix is molded, so that mats of smaller overall size can be used for molding matrices and thus reduce material costs.

The improvements through which these objects and other advantages are attained, and the specific construction of the automatic slitters and of the positioning elements which are provided in the chase in accordance with the present invention, will be readily understood from the following brief description with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a chase provided with matrix slitting and positioning means;

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1 drawn to a larger scale and showing one of the slitting devices in sectional elevation;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of a portion of the chase and of the slitting device shown in Fig. 2, this view being drawn to the same scale as Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a section similar to Fig. 2 but illustrating a pulp mat and molding blanket on the chase in preparation for the molding of the pulp mat into a matrix;

Fig. 5 is a further similar sectional elevation illustrating the pulp mat under compression during the molding of the mat to produce the matrix and illustrating the slitting of the mat which occurs simultaneously;

Fig. 6 is a section on line 6-6 of Fig. l, drawn to the same scale as Figs. 2 to 5 and illustrating one of the positioning elements; and

Fig. 7 is a similar section illustrating the positioning element with the mat and molding blanket in place on the chase preparatory to the application of the molding pressure to the mat.

Referring first to Fig. 1, the reference character 10 indicates the main frame of a printers chase 11 in which chase the type or other elements from which impressions are to be made in the matrix are secured. This chase is provided with the customary lock-up bars, such as those indicated at 12 and 13, which, when the type is set, are

moved into locking or clamping position by clamping screws 14. As is well known, in the customary procedure in the molding or making of matrices, after the type or other impression-making elements are clamped in the chase, a fiat moist pulp mat (often called flong) is placed on the chase, covered with a suitable resilient molding blanket and backing sheet, and then pressed against the type or other elements in the chase to produce the corresponding impressions in the pulp mat and thus mold the mat into the desired matrix. The means employed for exerting the necessary pressure to cause the impression to be produced in the mat may be either a moving pressure roller, which would apply rolling line contact pressure across the chase, or a direct pressure molding machine comprising two platens and a hydraulic ram, causing the molding pressure to be applied over the entire chase area simultaneously.

In the present invention guiding means and border slitting means are embodied in the frame members of the chase and the border slitting means is so constructed and arranged as to be operated automatically by the application of the molding pressure to the pulp mat in the making of the matrix. The border slitting means consists of four separate but identical slitting devices designated at 15A, 15B, 15C and 15D in Fig. 1. These are mounted in the main frame and lock-up bars of the chase at the locations indicated in Fig. 1. These four slitting devices are thus centrally positioned along each side of the area enclosing the type or other impression-making elements in the chase. Since these four slitting devices are identical it will be sufficient to describe one of them, namely the slitting device 15A, with reference to Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Referring now to Figs. 2 and 3, a slitting blade 17 is mounted on the top of a cylindrical head 18 and extends diametrically across the head. The head 18 in turn is mounted on the top of a cylindrical bellows 19. The bellows and head are contained within a cylindrical recess 20, this particular recess being provided in the lock-up bar 13 of the chase frame. A pair of diametrically opposite guides 21 extend from the periphery of the head 18 and are slidable up and down in vertical guideways 22 positioned on opposite sides of the recess 29. Thus the head 18 and therewith the blade 17 may move up and down to a limited extent, as the bellows 19 is expanded and then allowed to contract, but the head and blade are prevented from rotating. The blade 17 is so positioned with respect to the chase frame that it will be in the same plane as the blade in the slitting device on the opposite side of the chase frame, namely the blade in the slitting device 15C, as indicated in Fig. 1, and both of these blades accordingly are located in a plane perpendicular to the parallel edges of the impression-producing area of the chase. Similarly the blades in the two other slitting devices 15B and 15D, as indicated in Fig. I, extend in a plane which is perpendicular to the plane of the blades 15A and 15C, and these two planes would intersect at the center of the enclosed chase area.

Referring again to Figs. 2 and 3, an adjacent companion bellows 23, considerably larger than the bellows 8, and having a cylindrical head 24, is located similarly in a recess 25. The head 24 is of smaller diameter than the large diameter portion of the bellows 23, and a retaining ring 26, countersunk in the top surface of the chase frame member, limits the upward movement of the head 24 to a slightly raised position above the surface of the chase frame member. The bellows 23 is so constructed as to return to the normal expanded position, as shown in Fig. 2, whenever allowed to do so. The bellows w, on the other hand, is so constructed as to return to its normal contracted position, as shown also in Fig. 2, when not subjected to expanding pressure.

A tube 27 connects the bottom walls of the bellows 19* and of the bellows 23. The two bellows and their connecting tube 27 are filled with oil, or other suitable liquid, and hermetically sealed, with the large bellows 23 in its normal expanded position and the small bellows 18 in its normal contracted position, thus with the head as extending above the surface of the chase frame member and with the slitting knife 17 positioned below the surrounding surface of the chase frame member. it will be obvious now from Fig. 2 that external downward thrust on the head 24, forcibly moving the head 24 downwardly, will force the blade 17 to be raised above the surrounding surface, while upon release of such pressure on the head 24, the blade 17 and the head 24 will return to their normal lowered and raised positions respctively. The top edge of the blade 17, in addition to constituting a sharp cutting edge, is preferably inclined slightly with respect to the surface of the chase frame member, since sloping the sharp cutting edge facilitates the slitting of the pulp mat or matrix when the slitting device is operated in the manner presently to be described. As previously mentioned, the other three slitting devices 15B, 15C and 15D are all constructed and mounted exactly in the same manner as the described slitting device 15A and consequently function in the same manner.

Referring now to Fig. 4, when a matrix is to be made or molded, the moist pulp mat 28 for the matrix is placed on the chase with the side edge portions of the mat extending over the side frame members of the chase in which the four slitting devices 15A, 15B, 15C and 15D are mounted. The customary molding blanket 29 and the top sheet 3d are laid over the pulp mat and the molding pressure is then applied in either of the two ways previously mentioned. The application of such pressure on the head 24 of each of the four slitting devices forces the slitting blades in these devices upwardly into the position illustrated in Fig. 5. As a result the four slitting blades produce the desired four border slits in the matrix simultaneously with the molding of the matrix. Consequently the making of these four border slits takes place automatically without any effort or expenditure of time on the part of the operator.

in order that mats of smaller overall size may be used in the making of matrices with border slits, and thus, by eliminating some of the trimming waste, enabling a saving in material costs to be made, positioning elements 16 are provided (see Fig. 1). Two of these positioning elements are provided in each of the two side members of the main frame It) of the chase which are opposite the two lock-up bars. The locating of two such positioning elements on each of these two side frame members in the chase frame enables the minimum extent to which the corresponding two edges of the pulp mat need extend on these frame members to be set. Consequently, when the edges of the mat are placed against these positioning elements, there will be no trimming Waste from the corresponding edges of the mat and matrix.

Referring now to Fig. 6, each of these positioning elements 16 consists of a spring-mounted block 31 which is slidably seated in a channel 32 extending upwardly through the chase frame member. Each block 31 has an enlarged base portion 31' and the cross sectional area of the lower part of each channel 32 is enlarged to correspond to the size of this base portion 31, while the upper part of each channel 32 is only slightly larger in cross sectional area than the upper main portion of the block 31. This results in a shoulder being provided in each channel 32 to limit the upward movement of the block 31, A spring 33 is set in each channel 32 below the block 31 and is placed under tension between the bottom of the block and a bottom cap 34 secured to the underside of the chase frame member and closing the bottom end of the channel. Thus each block 31 is normally maintained by its spring 33 in the raised position shown in Fig. 6, but each block is capable of being thrust downwardly in its channel against the force of its spring.

When the mat of smaller overall size is to be used for making a matrix the two edges of the mat are positioned against the two pairs of blocks of the four positioning elements 16 (see Fig. 7). The molding blanket and top sheet, which in this instance will be larger than the smaller mat, are allowed to extend over the top of the spring-mounted blocks 31. The application of the molding pressure causes these blocks to be thrust down into retracted position in the chase frame, by which time these positioning elements will have served their purpose of defining the minimum border edges for two sides of the matrix being molded.

Thus the present invention enables border slits to be automatically made in all matrices during the molding of the matrix so that the method, described in the said US. Patent No. 2,861,334, for positioning the matrix, either in the trimmer or in the hand casting box, may then be followed Without the necessity of any separate intermediate step for preparing the matrix; and furthermore the present invention enables this method to be followed in the molding of smaller overall size matrices and thus with reduced material costs.

We claim:

1. In a chase, a rectangular impression-producing area for molding matrices for stereotype plates, a composite frame enclosing said impression-producing area, a matrix border slitting device mounted in said frame, said slitting device including an upright slitting blade normally positioned below the surrounding frame surface and carried on a head slidably mounted in an upright channel in said frame, means for forcibly thrusting said head and blade upwardly against a matrix being molded on the chase, and means actuatedby the moldling pressure on the matrix for operating said thrusting means, whereby said blade will automatically cut a border slit in the matrix with thernolding of the matrix on the chase.

2. In a chase having a rectangular impression-producing areafor molding matrices for stereotype plates and a composite frame enclosing said impression-producing area, a matrix border slitting device mounted in said frame, said slitting device comprising an upright slitting blade normally positioned below the surface of said frame and carried on a head slidably mounted in an upright channel in said frame, a bellows supporting said head and normally in contracted position, a second bellows operatively connected with said first mentioned bellows and located in a second upright channel in said frame near said first mentioned channel, said second bellows normally in expanded position, an actuating head on said second bellows slidable in said second channel and extending a short distance above the surrounding frame surface when said second bellows is in normal expanded position, and sealed-in hydraulic fiuid filling both of said bellows and the connection between them with said bellows in their normal positions, whereby the downward thrust on said actuating head by the molding pressure on a matrix on said chase will cause said blade to be thrust upwardly and to cut a border slit in the matrix.

3. In a chase for molding matrices for stereotype plates, a rectangular impression-producing area, a composite frame having four side portions enclosing said impression-producing area on all four sides, a matrix border slitting device mounted in each of said four side portions of said frame, said slitting devices all being identical, each of said slitting devices consisting of an upright slitting blade normally postioned below the surface of said frame side portions and carried on a head slidably mounted in an upright channel in said frame, a bellows supporting said head and normally in contracted position, a second bellows in each slitting device larger than said first mentioned bellows operatively connected with said first mentioned bellows and located in a second upright channel in the frame near said first mentioned channel, said second bellows normally in expanded position, an actuating head on said second bellows slidable in said second channel and extending a short distance above the surrounding frame surface when said second bellows is in normal expanded position, and sealed-in hydraulic fiuid filling both of said bellows and the connection between them with said bellows in their normal positions, whereby the downward thrust on said actuating heads by the molding pressure 1 on a matrix on said chase will cause the blades of the four slitting devices to be thrust upwardly and cut border slits in the matrix.

4. The combination set forth in claim 3 with said slitting devices being substantially centrally positioned along each side of said impression-producing area respectively.

5. In a chase having a rectangular impression-producing area for molding matrices for stereotype plates and a composite frame having four side portions enclosing said impression-producing area on all four sides, a matrix border slitting device mounted in each of four side portions of said frame, said slitting devices all being identical, each of said slitting devices including an upright slitting blade normally positioned below the surface of said frame side portions and carried on a head slidably mounted in an upright channel in said frame, the blades of said slitting devices located in planes perpendicular to the adjacent border lines of said impression-producing area in said chase respectively, means preventing the rotation of said heads and blades, means in each of said slitting devices for forcibly thrusting the blade upwardly against a matrix being molded on said chase, and means in each of said slitting devices actuated by the molding pressure on the matrix for operating such blade thrusting means.

6. In a chase having a rectangular impression-producing area for molding matrices for stereotype plates and a composite frame enclosing said impression-producing area on all four sides, a matrix border slitting device mounted in each of said four side portions of said frame, said slitting devices all being identical, said slitting devices being substantially centrally positioned along each side of said impression-producing area respectively, each of said slitting devices comprising an upright slitting blade normally positioned below the surface of said frame side portions, a bellows supporting said head and normally in contracted position, a second bellows in each slitting device operatively connected with said first mentioned bellows and located in a second upright channel near said first mentioned channel, said second bellows normally in expanded position, an actuating head on said second bellows slidable in said second channel and extending a short distance above the surrounding frame surface when said second bellows is in normal expanded position, and sealed-in hydraulic fluid filling both of said bellows and the connection between them with said bellows in their normal positions, whereby the downward thrust on said actuating heads of said slitting devices by the molding pressure on a matrix on said chase will cause said blades to be thrust upwardly and cut border slits in the matrix, the blades of the two slitting devices located at opposite sides of said impression-producing area extending in the same plane, and means preventing the rotation of said blades.

7. An improved chase for molding matrices including a rectangular impression-producing area, a composite frame having four side portions enclosing said impression-producing area on all four sides, matrix edge positioning guides mounted in two adjacent side portions of said composite frame, each of said guides comprising a block movable up and down in a guide channel with a spring normally holding the block in raised position extending above the surrounding surface of said composite frame but enabling the block to be pushed downwardly in said composite frame against the force of the spring, and a matrix border slitting device mounted in each of said four side portions of said frame, each of said slitting devices comprising an upright slitting blade normally positioned below the surrounding frame surface and carried on a head slidably mounted in an upright channel in said frame, means in each of said slitting devices for forcibly thrusting the blade upwardly against the matrix being molded on said chase, and means in each of said slitting devices actuated by the molding pressure on the matrix for operating said blade thrusting means.

8. An improved chase for molding matrices or stereotype plates, said chase comprising a frame assembly, a pair of lock-up bars in two adjacent sides of said frame assembly, a rectangular impression-producing area enclosed by said frame assembly and lock-up bars, matrix edge positioning guides mounted in two adjacent side portions of said frame assembly, each of said guides comprising a block movable up and down in a guide channel with a spring normally holding the block in raised position extending above the surrounding surface of said frame assembly but enabling the block to be pushed downwardly in said frame assembly against the force of the spring, and matrix border slitting devices mounted in said frame and lock-up bars on the four sides of said impressionproducing area respectively, each of said slitting devices comprising an upright slitting blade normally positioned below the surrounding frame surface and carried on a head slidably mounted in an upright channel in said frame assembly, a bellows supporting said head and normally in contracted position, a second bellows in each slitting device operatively connected with said first mentioned bellows and located in a second upright channel near said first mentioned channel, said second bellows lows in their normal positions, whereby the downward thrust on said actuating heads of said slitting devices by the molding pressure on a matrix on said chase will cause said blades to be thrust upwardly and cut border slits in 5 the matrix.

No references cited. 

